With the development and advancement of technology, power utilities need greater amounts of electricity thereby causing power distribution systems and networks to expand, and thus increasing the requirements for monitoring safety and reliability of the power distribution system. Power transformers, which convert voltage ranges in both step-down and step-up fashion, are key components and hardware of the power distribution system. As a core piece of equipment for the safe operation of the whole system, it is particularly important to ensure power transformers function within operational voltage and current ranges. In case of failure of the power transformers, widespread disruption of the power distribution system can occur, which seriously affects national and societal economic well being, day to day life, and living standards. Therefore, the capabilities of fault detection and condition monitoring of power transformers have an important economic and societal significance.
The traditional method of monitoring transformer status information for safety, reliability, and efficiency is visual inspection, chemical sampling, testing of oil in transformer windings, and high-voltage electrical testing. These conventional methods can only provide information for transformer fault and lag after a failure or a fault has occurred, and only after the accident measurement information has been obtained. The lack of real time condition monitoring information indicating faults in power transformers that could lead to failures is a major weakness of power distribution systems that can cause disruption of electrical power transmission. Faults and failures of the power transformers and resultant power distribution system would drive high costs of fees and penalties incurred by utility operators due to regulations and requirements of governmental oversight of the electrical utility power quality. However, by monitoring the vibrational state, in addition to the voltage and current of the transformer in real-time, a preventive role in detecting failures can be accurately achieved, including determination of the location of the fault.
The major impediment to achieving such real-time, in-situ monitoring of power transformers is the extremely large electromagnetic fields, capacitances, and inductances, associated with the internal structure of the transformer, particularly the windings. Such large electromagnetic fields preclude the placement of metal, conductor, or similar high dielectric constant sensor materials inside or within the vicinity of the transformer.
The present technology is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art.